Be assured that the testing of your faith leads to power of endurance.

Only let endurance have perfect results so that you may become perfect and complete, deficient in nothing.

A person of that sort must not expect to receive anything from the Lord--

The sun rises with his scorching heat and dries up the herbage, so that its flowers drop off and the beauty of its appearance perishes, and in the same way rich men with all their prosperity will fade away.

But when a man is tempted, it is his own passions that carry him away and serve as a bait.

In accordance with His will He made us His children through the Message of the truth, so that we might, in a sense, be the Firstfruits of the things which He has created.

Ridding yourselves, therefore, of all that is vile and of the evil influences which prevail around you, welcome in a humble spirit the Message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls.

If a man thinks that he is scrupulously religious, although he is not curbing his tongue but is deceiving himself, his religious service is worthless.

is it not plain that in your hearts you have little faith, seeing that you have become judges full of wrong thoughts?

Listen, my dearly-loved brethren. Has not God chosen those whom the world regards as poor to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which He has promised to those that love Him?

and one of you says to them, "I wish you well; keep yourselves warm and well fed," and yet you do not give them what they need; what is the use of that?

You believe that God is one, and you are quite right: evil spirits also believe this, and shudder."

But, idle boaster, are you willing to be taught how it is that faith apart from obedience is worthless? Take the case of Abraham our forefather.

Was it, or was it not, because of his actions that he was declared to be righteous as the result of his having offered up his son Isaac upon the altar?

You notice that his faith was co-operating with his actions, and that by his actions his faith was perfected;

You all see that it is because of actions that a man is pronounced righteous, and not simply because of faith.

Do not be eager, my brethren, for many among you to become teachers; for you know that we teachers shall undergo severer judgement.

For we often stumble and fall, all of us. If there is any one who never stumbles in speech, that man has reached maturity of character and is able to curb his whole nature.

Remember that we put the horses' bit into their mouths to make them obey us, and so we turn their whole bodies round.

And the tongue is a fire. That world of iniquity, the tongue, is placed within us spotting and soiling our whole nature, and setting the whole round of our lives on fire, being itself set on fire by Gehenna.

That is not the wisdom which comes down from above: it belongs to earth, to the unspiritual nature, and to evil spirits.

You unfaithful women, do you not know that friendship with the world means enmity to God? Therefore whoever is bent on being friendly with the world makes himself an enemy to God.

Or do you suppose that it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "The Spirit which He has caused to dwell in our hearts yearns jealously over us"?

Come, you who say, "To-day or to-morrow we will go to this or that city, and spend a year there and carry on a successful business,"

Instead of that you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we shall live and do this or that."

But, as the case stands, it is in mere self-confidence that you boast: all such boasting is evil.

I tell you that the pay of the labourers who have gathered in your crops--pay which you are keeping back--is calling out against you; and the outcries of those who have been your reapers have entered into the ears of the Lord of the armies of Heaven.

Do not cry out in condemnation of one another, brethren, lest you come under judgement. I tell you that the Judge is standing at the door.

Remember that we call those blessed who endured what they did. You have also heard of Job's patient endurance, and have seen the issue of the Lord's dealings with him--how full of tenderness and pity the Lord is.

But above all things, my brethren, do not swear, either by Heaven or by the earth, or with any other oath. Let your 'yes' be simply 'yes,' and your 'no' be simply 'no;' that you may not come under condemnation.

Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be cured. The heartfelt supplication of a righteous man exerts a mighty influence.

Elijah was a man with a nature similar to ours, and he earnestly prayed that there might be no rain: and no rain fell on the land for three years and six months.

let him know that he who brings a sinner back from his evil ways will save the man's soul from death and throw a veil over a multitude of sins.